But Death is Not Forbidden

by Kip Terrington

  ***

  Bridcha acknowledged his scout upon his return. The scout's name was Kaw. He was the smallest in their tribe, standing at only five-feet tall. His unfortunate size had been due to the fact that his metamorphosis had occurred when the tribe had been in the midst of a journey. His stunting was regrettable, but every tribe needed a few scouts and this small yeti had fit the bill quite well.

  Kaw stood before his chief and began his report.

  “Fifteen flying stones. One black walking stone. Trench finished soon,” Kaw said. Bridcha nodded and dismissed the scout. Not much had changed from the last report except for the addition of a few more stone angels. The trench would slow down some of his people, but not nearly enough to matter. The last time he had approached the castle, he had come unprepared. This time, the full might of his tribe would show up ready for war. He was pretty sure that their approach had not been detected, otherwise those flying stones would have, at the very least, been dropping rocks on them. Looking back upon his tribe, he saw that they were moving efficiently and that their war machines were in good condition. If they kept to this low pass, they should be able to make it to the hill leading to the castle and achieve some measure of surprise. He didn't like breaking his word, but his tribe was more important than his honor. That's what he kept telling himself.

  Day eleven.

  The castle had begun to develop a routine. Assisted by Bork, Spooky worked on experimenting and manufacturing uniforms and weapons. Moes, having finally finished the Little Yeti Vault, was able to exclusively devote his time to the two things he considered most important: increasing his mastery in magic through working with the damaged slaves and leveling up with the group by grinding through the dungeon. It was going well. On day ten, both Grork and Bork had slept the whole day, so Moes had had to wait to go back in Os. Gaining levels had become an obsession for him. He convinced Spooky that they should head in the dungeon the moment that Grork was awake.

  At the very end of day ten, upon awakening, Spooky had received a message.

  Congratulations!

  You have increased your defenses with a Trench.

  Castle Defenses: Low

  No. of Automated Aerial Golems: 16

  No. of Militia: 6

  Magical Shield: none

  Fortifications:

  Inner Wall: 300ft high, 5ft thick

  Outer Wall: small earthen mound

  Trench: 15ft deep, 10ft wide

  Archery Towers: none

  You have continued to progress in defenses, facilities and population. Plus 1% to building point generation!

  “If I had realized I could get more building points from this system, I would have embraced it sooner,” Spooky had mumbled while heading down to Os.

  When the gong for the midnight bunny sounded to announce the beginning of day eleven, their group stepped into the Dungeon of Os. They grinded through the first three levels uneventfully. With each boss, they received a few items of note, but none came close to the items they received when they had fought the armored troll. Just as Spooky had predicted, the third level boss had become an unarmored troll with unarmored snakes. It made them much easier to defeat. Unfortunately, the UI noted the change in the level of difficulty and nerfed the amount of experience the group received. Even with the lower level of experience received, Spooky still gained one level each time they went through the dungeon. Though Moes pushed for them to go down to the fourth floor, Spooky decided she wanted to wait for Joe before they tackled anything new. Having noted the size of Lil, Spooky believed healing the large yeti would soon be no longer needed. In actuality, the healing might already have been unnecessary. They were able to work through the dungeon twice, but after exiting the dungeon the second time, Spooky noted the alarms blaring in her castle.

  Alarm...

  Alarm...

  As they stepped out of the Dungeon of Os, Moes covered his ears trying to block out the harshness of the blaring alarm.

  “What is that sound? l’ve never heard it before!” Moes screeched, hoping to be heard over the blaring. Spooky didn't answer. She was looking through the eyes of her angels who were still widening the trench that they had dug. She caused all of them to leave what they had been doing and gain altitude. What she saw was not comforting. The Night Lights floated in the sky above, and already halfway up the hill toward the castle was the whole of the yeti tribe. Every single one of them was extending and retracting their claws. They had brought crude war machines and bridges. The trench would not even slow them down. Coming back to herself, Spooky silenced the alarm, than gave orders to both Grork and Moes.

  “That alarm signals the approach of an army. Moes, it appears your feelings against the yetis were justified. They are arrayed for war. We're not as defenseless as we once were, but it's going to take everything we have to stop them. Moes, the first thing I want you to do is to make sure that Lil doesn't wake up. I don't know how the alarm didn't rouse her, but we need to capitalize on that. She is dangerous. After you are sure the spells are strong enough, wake up Joe. Tell him to put on the uniform that I laid out for him, and to allocate his points. Only on combat skills or magic, no singing! GO!” Spooky said. Moes hurried to comply.

  “Grork, your job's not going to be quite so exciting. You're to go get Bork and help him put the new uniforms on the angels I've made, but which are still unanimated, in this cavern. Unfortunately, I've only been able to make twenty, and they probably need to cure for at least another two days to be fully effective, but we're going to have to rush them. After you've put the uniforms on the statues, come out and help. Hopefully, by that point, I will have more instructions for you,” Spooky said. Grork nodded and hurried to get Bork. For now, she would have to use her stone angels that were not yet protected by the new uniforms.

  Spooky took one of her shortcuts and flew out of the castle. The illumination of the Night Lights reflected off the yeti tribe, which numbered at least 200 adults. The average height was anywhere from eight- to ten-feet tall. Spooky was grateful they weren't all two stories tall like their chief, but it didn’t mattered. Even with Obsidian One and Joe fighting with all their might, they couldn't defeat this many.

  “You believe we might avert combat if we brought out Tig and Lil? ...I think it's more likely we would lose our only bargaining chip, but we will have to see. …I agree we should talk to them, but if that fails I will need all the help I can get. Remember our agreement,” Spooky spoke to herself.

  The yetis moved up the hill in a loose formation. Bridcha was at the tip of the army and two steps behind him and to the right was, from what Spooky could assess, the second largest yeti in the tribe. Behind the two of them were two teams of yetis, each carrying their own makeshift bridge. The two bridges were nothing more than large stone slabs that could cover the gap dug by Spooky's angels. Behind the bridge teams, was one mammoth stone battering ram. Even though yetis were much stronger and much larger than humans, it still took over 25 of them to carry the battering ram. The bridges and the battering ram were overkill. The castles defenses were weak. It was clear the yetis would take the castle.

  Spooky watched as the chief and his nearest companion approached. From this distance, Spooky could read the lips of two and ascertained that the companion was actually the chief’s mate, Chabrid. She was riling up the chief. Her words were not kind. She said that the king had broken his oath the moment he gave it. She said that the king only wished to enslave the yeti people, and that their children were dead because of humans, like Joe. She obviously wanted her mate in an absolute rage. Spooky could tell that it was working. The yeti couple each had an elevated heart rate and increased muscle tension. It seemed, with every step, their fury increased. If Spooky didn't speak to them soon, they wouldn't even be able to hear her over the sound of their own thunderously beating hearts.

  Spooky split her angels up into three groups of five. Each group of five formed a vertical pentagon. Each of the three groups formed the three points of a ve
rtical triangle. She instructed Obsidian One to climb on top of the mound of dirt piled behind the trench. It drew out its scimitars and stood at the ready. It stood directly below the triangle formed by the three groups of angels. It definitely wouldn't be enough to stop the yetis, but at least the geometry was beautiful. Spooky couldn't wait any longer. The yetis were nearing the trench. The tiny fairy moved in, alone, to speak to the chief and his mate.

  ***

  The chief gripped his paws so tightly that he broke his strong skin from the pressure. Blood dripped from his palms as he walked, staining the snow-covered hill. His mate was still talking, but he could no longer hear her. The time for talking was done. The tone of his mate’s voice changed suddenly. It raised a full octave. He was so surprised, he turned toward her to understand what she was saying.

  “Impossible! A dark fairy. No, no, they all dead. Gone. Why she here? Matter not! We no let her stop us,” Chabrid said, defiantly. The chief looked forward again and squinted his eyes. Then he saw her. It was the fairy companion of King Joe. His mate was right, she was a dark fairy. When he had seen her before, he had been so depressed by his defeat that he had not noticed this obvious detail. The dark fairy flew overhead and came close, but remained far enough away that he wouldn't be able to reach her if he stretched out. She spoke in yeti. Nothing she said could matter to him. Bridcha raised his bloody paw in her direction, and said the words of power to fire a wave of force at her.

  Before the purple glow could leave the chief’s paw, Spooky had retracted her wings to fall below the attack. As she fell, her stone angels behind her scattered so as not to be caught in the attack meant for their master, but not all were able to avoid the line of fire. Quick as a hummingbird, Spooky flew back toward the castle and behind the protective mound her angels had prepared. By the time she arrived there, Obsidian One had rolled down the mound, toward the castle, and opened its chest. Like the contortionist that Spooky was, she wrapped herself around the heart of Obsidian One. The chest cavity closed and its seams disappeared.

  The chief and his mate were the largest in their tribe. They were both tall enough that they could walk across the defensive trench without need of a bridge. Spooky, who was no stranger to math, was not unaware of this fact. Unfortunately, they were just too big to be stopped by dropping small stones on them. For this reason, the yeti couple would have to be slowed by dive-bombing angels. Before either reached the trench, two angels descended like asteroids, targeting each yeti’s center mass.

  The chief grunted as he attempted to dodge. One of the statues shattered against his shoulder, almost toppling him back. Though it hurt, the statues would not stop him. He prepared to dodge the next angel, but this one came low and took out his ankle, causing him to fall to a knee. Swinging his paw in fury, he shattered one of the angels meant to knock him down. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw that his mate was making slow progress toward the trench, just like him. It wasn't long before he realized that he and his mate had already dealt with more than fifteen angels. Reassessing the situation, he noticed a line of angels coming from the castle. How many did they have? Why had they never showed more than fifteen? In between blocking statues, the chief gave a signal to his bridge teams and they began to move forward. If the angels were going to focus on him and his mate, then his tribe would take the castle.

  Spooky did the math. In order to slow the chief and his mate, it would take most of her ivory angels’ attention. At least until they were all broken into rubble. She wished Obsidian One was stronger so that it could help slow the chief, but even with its scimitars, the chief was too big and strong. The bridge teams advanced. Obsidian One bounded like a leopard up the mound of dirt and used it like a ramp. When it reached the top, it jumped, diving out over the open air. The automaton’s ballistic course was elegant and on target. Obsidian One landed on the tip of the first bridge just extending over the trench. Spooky allowed all the weight of Obsidian One to impact the first bridge. As she had hoped, the tip of the bridge slid down into the trench. The yetis holding onto it lost their grip. Because of the momentum imparted on the bridge by Spooky, the stone slab slid all the way to the bottom of the trench.

  After the bridge hit, it slid sideways and was no longer usable. One bridge down, one to go. Spooky had been able to ride the bridge down into the trench. This helped her avoid any injury she might have sustained due to the purposely uneven and treacherous bottom of the trench. Having been the designer of the trench, she knew the safe places to step so as to avoid the extra hidden pitfalls. Using Obsidian One’s long powerful arms, she expertly climbed out of the trench, hoping to be in time to stop the other bridge.

  Unfortunately, Spooky's Olympic high-dive trick could only be utilized once. By the time she got to the top of the trench on the castle’s side, the second bridge was already firmly in place. She spun around, and faced the yetis as they began to rush across the bridge. She left her scimitars in the scabbard on her back. Raising Obsidian One's empty claws, she began chanting words of power. The golem’s hands glowed with an eerie shadow which shot out toward the bridge covering a fifteen-foot section near the middle. She had cast a Level 2 spell called Sticky Ground. It would slow the yetis’ advance, but not by much. The only way it would be useful was if she could halt a yeti directly over the spell’s affected area. The longer they stood on that ground, the more hold the spell would have over them. Having completed the spell, she reached over her shoulders and pulled out her two scimitars. She leaned forward and started to sprint, preparing to meet the charging yeti with her blades and bulk.

  As the distance between the two opposing forces shortened, Spooky noted the weak spots on her opponents that she could strike with her scimitars. The bridge was wide enough that two yetis could run abreast. The two yetis in the front of the charge each had a single blade extending from one of their paws. As they neared Obsidian One, they raised their clawed paws, pointing their blade like a joust. Spooky, inside of Obsidian One, understood that meeting their charge with her bulk would not stop them. Before the two forces came together, Obsidian One stopped and set its feet. The long arms of the headless obsidian golem, combined with the scimitars, gave an impressive reach. Obsidian One squatted low, and at the precise moment, spun her scimitars in a horizontal crescent moon extending them to their maximum length. The tip of each scimitar hit one of the ankles, causing the yeti on the right to fall forward and slow the yetis behind him.

  Almost before the yeti on the right fell, Spooky had rolled backwards so as not to be impaled by the still charging yeti on the left. Obsidian One regaining its feet, brought one scimitar up and parried the blade of the yeti that was still charging. The other scimitar came around in a quick arc, slicing down in an angle and sinking deep into the knee of the surprised yeti. The first two yeti on the bridge were down, but unfortunately it wasn't slowing their comrades behind them. Spooky was quick to back up, and use her ring, Fear of the Fey, to cast the spell Fear. The wave of fear hit the front ranks of yeti and caused them to stop. The yetis behind them, however, did not. As a result, the yetis began to pile up and at least four fell off into the trench. Obsidian One used its scimitars to help a few of them find their way off the bridge. Unfortunately for Spooky, the anger this caused in the back ranks of yeti caused her Fear spell to fail for the next two charges.

  The chaos that the Fear spell had caused on the bridge had taught those in the back ranks caution. The next two yetis crouched in a more defensive position and made their way forward together, holding their blades out and hoping they could counter the scimitars. They stepped carefully to the side of their two comrades who had fallen and remained stuck and bleeding on the bridge. Obsidian One gave ground, looking for an opportunity to take a quick slice at one of them. Spooky took notice of how both of these yetis had a blade on each paw. Even with Obsidian One’s long reach, it was going to be difficult to penetrate their defenses and not get caught by one of them. Spooky understood that she could not afford for any of the yetis
to get a hand on her. They were too big and too strong and had the numbers to literally rip her limb from limb. The problem was that the moment she lost the bridge, the yetis would flood onto the mesa. Using her second ring, Obey the Fey, she cast Mind Control. The chest of Obsidian One glowed blue and the spell cast. Her target only growled.

  Unsuccessful control check. The yetis’ natural defense, Fury, is currently active.

  Spells were not going to work. Spooky took a step forward, and clanged her scimitars together as if she was clapping her hands. Instead of fighting off the blow, the yeti moved into it hoping to catch one of the scimitars in his ribs and thus deny the weapon to his enemy. It worked. One of the scimitars got stuck in the dense bone of the yeti, and Spooky had to let it go or be caught by the others. The injured yeti fell to the ground bleeding, it was wounded but not dead.

  Quickly stepping backward, she raised her unarmed hand at another approaching yeti, chanted words of power, and released a dark shadow from her palm. She had cast Iron Lung, a weak attack spell, but the best that she had. It slowed the yeti for a moment, but he quickly sneezed as the spell failed to take hold. Another yeti stepped past the wounded yeti who had sheathed Spooky’s scimitar. Spooky was now facing two uninjured yeti and each had blades extending from their paws. She quickly moved her single scimitar back and forth in precise arcs, attempting to slow their advance. She couldn't afford to back up anymore, for she had come to the end of the bridge. This was her last stand.